Vietspices Search

Thursday, March 12, 2015

My little girl Ân-Hy just turned seven. I so wish time would slow down! Yesterday morning, before the girls took off to school, her big sister and daddy got up at 5:30 am to bake a birthday cake and make breakfast for her while I was cuddling her in bed. Her soft baby skin all snuggled up against mine as I studied her innocent face and watched her snoozing comfortably, quietly.

The night before her birthday, I stayed up late to bake 50 cupcakes for her to bring to school and gymnastics to share with her friends. A few minutes before the clock struck midnight, I wrapped a present for her, placed a giant birthday poster card that her sister made on the dining table. I hung the streamers around the kitchen nook and then waited to see her surprised happy face and beautiful smile in the morning.

Every birthday for my girls, I tried to be creative and look for ideas to make it memorable, joyful. At least once a year I get to tap into this creative process.

For the last five years of her life, I planned her birthday party without much of her in puts. Since she turned six, she has been coming up with her own birthday party themes. This year, she decided to have a slime birthday party and she only wanted to invite a few good friends. What on earth is a slime party?

Last year, she requested a spa birthday party. That was a hard theme for me to pull off as I rarely pamper myself with a manicure, pedicure, or even a spa. It took lots of research, and time but in the end, with the help of some friends, I was able to deliver a fabulous sixth birthday party.

It started with the invitation. It took a number of photos before I got a decent one.

Then came the sweet treat table. My girls and I had a wonderful time making these adorable nail polish bottles out of marshmallows, tootsie rolls and melted candies. My sister-in-law made a lovely cake adorned in girly accessories and spa themed cake pops arranged in a beautiful bouquet.

One of my challenges was how to create a relaxing and soothing spa atmosphere. After many days of brainstorming I finally pulled out a daybed couch that I had forgotten in the den into the piano room and decorated the bed with some cute pillows. Next to the bed was a table filled with a vase of brilliant flowers and homemade facial masks made out of avocado, blueberries, honey, and plain yogurt. The soothing music was playing as the moms pampered the girls. It was such a sweet moment.

A Dollar store is always my first destination when looking for things. Guess where I found these spa head wraps?

Miss Ân-Hy didn't simply asked for a spa party but also a manicure and pedicure. The pedicure bowls underneath the bench were also from A Dollar store. In these bowls were warm water, foot soak bath salts, bath bombs, and fresh camellias flower petals that my girls picked from our backyard. It feels so soothing just trying to describe it. Aah...

My girls and I made these simple tissue pom-poms to a impart a cheerful radiance to the pedicure/manicure room.

That was so much fun for the girls as you can hear it in their giggles, but the party was yet to be over and it was time to put on pretty dresses and have a nice and relaxing lunch on the deck. What I served were varieties of fruit punch in the personalized mason jars that they kept as parting gifts.

Aren't these turkey sandwich adorable? They sure look simple but after I got myself into this, I realized how time consuming it was to cut each piece of the sandwich, sliced turkey and cheese into the flower shapes. Then, a central hole was carved out to insert a cherry tomato. Without my husband's help, I sure couldn't get these sandwiches ready by noon for the party. While putting the sandwiches together, I thought the sandwiches somehow looked incomplete. Perhaps a cute food pick would work. I was lucky enough to find a pack of these gorgeous food picks that a good Japanese friend of mine sent to my girls all the way from Japan a few months prior.

These savory mini corn dog muffins are absolutely delicious when they're fresh and warm. I made this batch at 6:30 am on the day of the party when I wasn't even fully awake. At least I was alert enough to snap a picture of the final product.

What can be better than licking on a chocolate kiwi popsicle after a spa, manicure and pedicure. I always find myself extremely busy putting the little details into a party. Without my girls and my husband's help, I wouldn't be able to get everything done on time. These delicious chocolate kiwi popsicles were prepared a day ahead with their help.

I love those elegant looking grape skewers. Thanks to my girls for threading the grapes. They were focus! You can see how labor intensive this was.

Since I put all the moms to work as estheticians, masseuses, and nail artists as soon as they arrived to the party; they worked really hard to to ensure that the girls enjoyed their party. I prepared a table of hot food and a couple bottle of sweet wines to thank all the moms.

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About Me

My husband and I have two lovely daughters. I'm incredibly fortunate to be able to stay at home to raise my daughters and experiment with food.
I was probably in love with food from my mother’s womb, but didn’t realize it until I found myself spending every cent of my allowance on snacks and frequently begging my maid to let me help out in the kitchen. The desire to cook was intense. I snuck into the kitchen when my maid was asleep and stole rice and matchsticks so my friend and I could cook it in our toy clay pot. I even bought ingredients from the market to make frozen banana dessert topped with shredded coconut and roasted peanuts and sold them to the neighborhood kids.
These fond memories eventually led to my Vietspices blog - born in October 2010- with the purpose of making memories with my girls and sharing our recipes, but ultimately creating a foundation for charity. I envision something that wound extend beyond my daily bread to encompass the basics of daily living – food, clothing, shelter - for those less fortunate. And this gave birth to The Spices of Life (Hương Vị Cuộc Sống) Foundation. It is under construction as I work out the logistics. Please stay tuned!